One For You, One For Me

So, I'm preparing for a Bridal shower, a wedding and Christmas. Three Sundays in a row. I gotta work and I gotta buy presents. Yeah, I know, in the grand scheme of things I don't "GOTTA" but I feel I need to keep up with the Jones's and certain people close to me expect a minimal level of civility. I haven't enjoyed Christmas in years and I don't think people actually think of marriage as a sacrament, anymore. Both occassions have lost their allure and are now just tasks I must persevere through. Nice Attitude Dot !
Tonight , my co-workers invited me to go out and carouse and maybe Karaoke tonight. Sorry, can't go , I'm about to get really busy and I need to maximize every possible moment preparing for the up- coming festivities. Buying stuff for the shower, getting a dress for the wedding and purchasing Xmas gifts. That's what I set out to do.
I got the dress for the wedding. It will require a foundation garment, but the price was right. I got plates, utensils and cups for the shower , to go along with the napkins I got Sunday. However, I bought 2 pairs of shoes at Kohl's. I knew a style I wanted was on sale , but the boots were half price. The right height and comfort for my purposes. Yeah, black shoes. You would think I had enough black shoes by now, but we'd both be wrong. I bought a turtleneck for my Mother. I can't afford this stuff. I shouldn't be buying stuff for myself, I should be spending my money on others. Oh, they're not less fortunate, I just need to meet some obligations. I haven't used a charge card yet. But I hope I stop gathering soon and start nesting for the winter.
It's cra-zay-zee. . . .

Running With Scissors

It was a dark overcast day today, here in Mast-ta-Chew-sitts. It was raining, drizzling all day. Damp and cold, but not freezing.
Kiki and I went to see "Running with Scissors" tonight, it is based on Augusten Burroughs life story. What a screwed up young adulthood this kid had. His mother was a completley self-centered woman and his Dad was a hopeless alcoholic and then his mother had her therapist adopt young Augusten and , well .. . . . .. it could have had a worse outcome.
Annette Bening was spot -on as the self-centered/crazy Mom. I'm sure she'll get an Oscar nomination for this one. Alec Baldwin played the distant Dad-well played and so sad . Brian Cox was perfect as the conniving manipulative therapist. Jill Clayburgh seemed the most "normal"-tragic, but the most compassionate character.
Since I have read some of his writing, I feel that the movie was very close to what he wrote. However, it's not a feel good film and the selfishness of the characters made them unlikeable. Though they were benign by comparison to some kid sired by crack parents in a poor community, they were still pretty shitty. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't think it 's a "great" film.
Okay, that's it.

The Illusion of being on Top of Things

Tonight is Saturday night. Yup. I'm here bloggin right now, during the shank of the evening. You need roller skates to keep up with me. I worked today. I returned hangers to the Dry Cleaners, beforehand.
After work, I wrapped all the presents that I have purchased , thus far. About 10 items. I have addressed, stamped and return address labelled the envelopes for invitations for my friends Bridal shower. She is getting married the week before Christmas and the shower is the week before that. I have composed the invitation, but have not filled out the cards yet because I want to sleep on the way I have worded the invitations. I'll mail them down the Center (of my town) tomorrow.
I really don't know how I'm going to get through this Holiday season. I don't feel very festive . I don't know how I'm going to afford gifts, for Xmas and the wedding and getting a dress for the wedding. I feel most comfortable in black. That is not an appropriate color to wear in a wedding. I have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Ah, that's it. I don't really have anything to report.

Hi-Yah

It's been over a week since I posted. Sometimes, my computer is so slow and cranky that about all I can accomplish is checking the e-mail. I saw "Casino Royale" last night. I thought it was a lot of fun. My friend Kiki is a Bond freak (though my little brother has collected all the Ian Fleming books) and she was a little disappointed. Though I like Daniel Craig, I don't think he's quite "posh" enough for the Bond role. That being said, I liked the movie. I wished the villains were a little more freakish looking; they were merely creepy and dressed like everybody else. Some great action shots. I admired the fact that they got the cinematography to mimic movies from the 70's. I thought the female leads make-up was very glam 80's. I thought Julian Wright was underutilized, however it'll be a great payday for him. I think he is a great actor. I first became familiar with him in the role of "Basquiat". So, I recommend this film. It was rollicking good fun.
Over the last week, I just worked. Went to two new restaurants -they've been there, I just haven't been there. On Tuesday, Kiki,me and a couple of friends went to the "Great Wall" in Bedford. All you can eat buffet. I was up a pound at Weight Watchers the next day ! On Friday, I went to "Dave's Famous Barb-e-Que" up on route 1. I had the catfish. It was good but I couldn't help comparing it to Blue Ribbon and Redbones.
On Saturday , I made a master list of little tasks I would hope to accomplish soon. Planning to achieve the bulk of them on Sunday morning. Then the electricity went out for 2 and half hours. From 8 am to 1o:30 am. Some of my tasks required electricity, at the very least , lighting. Thwarted again. I have been knocking off the tasks as best as I can. Today , before I go to the first job, I'll drop a bag at Goodwill.
I started to have car trouble again. The car would shut off when I took my foot off the gas. SO, if I had to brake in traffic, the car would shut off. I had to turn the key off, turn it back on and get into gear all on the fly. It was getting a little dangerous coming home in rush hour traffic on 128 Friday night. Regular traffic, like the lights on Mass. Ave. were hell. I was late for work on Saturday. I called my garage and Herbie said it was probably a vacuum hose and to bring it in on Monday. I did, I was later than intended because of all the stopping , starting and shifting , I was completely drenched in nervous sweat by the time I got there. I was hoping I'd get the car back in time to go to work on Tuesday. Guess what ? They had it fixed in a couple of hours AND they didn't charge me ! Can you believe that ? So . . .. . I am mobile.
Okay , there we go . I think we're all caught up now. Sorry about the delay. Have a Happy Thanksgiving !

A Week in Review

Well, yesterday, I had the day off. I had all sorts of organizational hopes and dreams. I bought some "Space Bags" at Target on Friday and I was going to do the seasonal clothing transfer thing. Maybe get rid of some clothes , books and video tapes I have never and probably will never use. Yet, I drifted through the day like I had all the time in the world. I did get two loads of laundry done, getting closer to the bottom of the pile on every pass. Mostly, I read magazines. So, in a way, that will clear some space because the recycling goes out on Friday. I don't know how I manage to accumulate so many pieces of "Stuff".
Last Monday, Kiki and I went to see "The Queen" starring Helen Mirren and James Cromwell. It tells the sroty of what the Royal family might have been going through during the events of Diana's death. I thought it was well done and moving, Kiki thought it should have been more educational. My friend Jack and his girlfriend really liked it , as well. On Tuesday, we went to see "Catch a Fire". We both really like Tim Robbins. It was the story of Victor Chomossa and how he ended up as a freedom fighter against Apartheid in South Africa. It was very moving and I thought it was well-done. Both sides truly felt like they were doing what was right for their people. It was not an easy call. Generally , I don't like politically themed films, but I thought both were very good.
Wed. , I did the All Asia. We had a pretty good crowd. I gotta hand it to Janet for producing the show and doing new material every time. It's also been a useful venue for me to create new material. Sometimes. because I am so comfortable there, I think of fairly good stuff while I'm on stage. Also, I love the "Rice Bowls" that Patty makes.
Thursday, I went to a new Brazilian restaurant with a friend. It was okay , but it was no Cafe bela ! Then , Friday and Saturday I did my marketing and and Target cruising after work and then came home and collapsed from exhaustion.
I wish I had accomplished more stuff yesterday. Frequently, when I get a whole day and a night off, I have more energy during the rest of the week. I am better able to meet my obligations and do my work. Right now, I just want to go back to bed. . . . .

Finding Something New

So, I am reasonably healthy again. Since last Tuesday, I haven't had a cup of coffee and have switched to black tea until further notice. I went to work on Friday and Saturday but stayed in both nights. Yesterday was my first Sunday off since April. I didn't get nearly as much as I expected to get done yesterday. One load of laundry and half a magazine. However, I did work on my set list because I was doing stand-up at the Comedy Studio !
Three friends from work came to the show. It was really nice, because just as I was thinking they weren't going to make it, they were already in the restaurant and we walked up the last flight to the club together. Rick was doing the door at that moment. He looked very jaunty in a sweater and jeans ensemble. He looked very good.
Erin Judge was hosting the show. She did a great job and I thought she looked really good. Comic in Residence this month is Micah Sherman and his Dad was in the audience. He caught a little guff from a table of 30 something women. He was just doing crowd work and then something turned and he finished his set from behind the curtain because the woman accused him of making too much eye contact. Unfortunately , from behind the curtain he wouldn't be able to see the blue light indicating his time was up. Also, apparently, Micah's dad has a very large penis. .. according to Micah.Very funny. That bullet slot is a tough one !
Then it was Maria Ciampa. She also works with Improv Boston. Every time I see a kid from Improv Boston , I feel like introducing myself as their Grand Ma. However, there is really no point in that for either of us. She did a good job. Then Mike Dorval came in and did a guest set. I know he doesn't fully appreciate how good he is . He brings it every time and his material is really good. I love watching him.
Then me. I felt pretty comfortable although I was really aware of the presence of my friends from work. The table of ladies left me be because I congratulated the pregnant one and then got on with my business. Having my set list really helped. I appreciated Erin laughing at the newish stuff. I could tell it was Erin because I'm pretty sure she was the only one. Then I got to the material about the booth and my friends work with me there. They laughed when the rest of the audience was laughing , because they've pretty much heard all the material and the genesis of the jokes. However, because they were there, I found a new tag whcih the rest of the audience also laughed at. Ta-Da ! I found something new ! However, I had only gotten through a 5 minute set ,so, the last 2 minutes were a little choppy. I pulled it together, but it could have been smoother if I had prepared just a little more material. I felt very good when I was done.
Because there was no program, I can't quite remember the entire set . So, please forgive me if I omit someone. Shane Mauss was there, he was doing new material . I really like how how writes. He was doing new material, it was still realy good. Maggie MacDonald was there. Again, I really like her writing. Ellen Moschetto did a great job, too. She is also a really good writer. Then Tommy Morello brought it all home. He has an audition in New York on Tuesday. I think he's going to get some attention.
That's it . I thought it was good show and I felt good about what I did. There was a big Patriot's game on downstairs , so one of my friends kept sneaking off to watch , as well as a bunch of other comics.
That is the blog of last night's show.

Throwing Up Water

I left Boston on Tuesday to do a show in Skowhegan Maine on Wed. morning. We stopped at a Ruby Tuesday's on the way up.I had a root beer , lump crab cake and the salad bad. We all had the salad bar. We got to our hotel around 10:30 PM. We settled in. I read a Boston paper I had bought before we left.
When I left the resatuarant I had started to experience some discomfort in my stomach. I would almost describe as a grinding/burning sensation. I thought I was going to cut a big fart in the tiny car that the 4 of us were travelling in. That fear would also contribute to my unease. We were still an hour away from our destination. I thought I was having motion sickness.
After we had setteld , we turned off the lights around 11:30. I was tossing and turning in the dark on the little twin bed. I couldn't seem to get comfortable. Usually, I don't have trouble sleeping , once I am in a bed. I think this went on for about an hour and I realized I was going to be sick. I ran to bathroom and up came the lump crab cake-over and over again. Okay, good, it's out of my system maybe I can sleep now. I think I was asleep for about 30 minutes and I jumped and ran to the toilet and released some more crab cake into the wild. Same deal, I go back to bed, sleep for about 30 minutes and jump up to yak again. This went on pretty much all night.
When the alarm went off at 5:30, Chris offered to reconfigure the show so I could stay in the hotel room and sleep. I felt like I had come this far -I wasn't going to miss the show , too. I made it through the show I was pretty weak, but I made all the cues and marks. We had a Q&A after the show with the kids. Near the end of the first session, I got up and threw up water in the toilet. For the force and quantity of volumn, I would have thought the discharge would have been more substantial. Nope. Just water, mixed with stomach juices, but basicallly water.
I still had one more session and then we could leave. I was drinking water because I was parched. It was like I had a wick inside me that was draining all the fluids to some remote location. I was weak , like I couldn't move fast or some pipe inside of me would break. The group stopped at a favorite restaurant on the way home and I just slept in the car. I dosed most of the way home . I called my boss to say that we were still in Maine . She said "If you aren't here by 2 , don't bother showing up" that was the nicest thing she could have said to me.
They dropped me off at my home around 3 . I shuffled into the house, got my coat off and heaved water up for about 10 minutes. All the water I had been sipping on the way home just wouldn't go down and stay down. Then I slept. I would wake up for about ten minutes and then go back to sleep. I slept straight through until 8 am today. I don't feel as sick but I am worried that I won't be able to keep anything down.
I thought this was food poisoning but everyone pretty much ate the same thing . So, this must be a flu. I kept moaning "I wish I was dead" in the car on the way home. I hate being sick.